COMPARATIVE APPRAISAL OF ANTICORRUPTION LAWS: LESSONS NIGERIA CAN LEARN FROM NORWAY, UNITED KINGDOM AND UNITED STATES’ ANTI-CORRUPTION STRATEGIES

The study undertakes comparative legal and policy analyses of corruption in the upstream petroleum sectors of Nigeria, Norway, the United States, and the United Kingdom. These countries were selected as case studies because they are rich in petroleum resources with favourable Transparency International annual rankings and due to their status as relatively advanced petroleum jurisdictions with stringent anticorruption laws. The study is a doctrinal legal research that adopts a point-by-point comparative approach with library research method. The study reveals that corruption thrives on the weak enforcement of anti-corruption laws and lack of political will in providing effective regulatory intervention. In conclusion, the study finds that anti-corruption agencies in the selected countries are more effective because of their governments' political will to combat corruption, as well as adequate or sufficient budgets and the strict enforcement of their laws in contrast to Nigeria. It recommends among other reforms, soft law approach and strict enforcement of anticorruption laws for transparency in the upstream petroleum sector of Nigeria